1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool used in semiconductor processes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure of a pad backer used in a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, and to a CMP process using the pad backer. The pad backer has a longer lifetime and is capable of not damaging the surface of the polished object when broken in use in a CMP process.
2. Description of Related Art
CMP is the most important technique for globally planarizing a substrate surface. In a typical CMP process, the substrate to be polished is pressed onto a polishing pad to which polishing slurry is supplied, while the polishing pad is placed on a rotated polishing stage of the CMP machine. The polishing pad is usually placed on a flat pad backer that is mounted on the polishing stage and rotated together with the polishing stage.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a conventional pad backer in an exploded perspective view and in a cross-sectional view, respectively, the pad backer being usually used in a tungsten (W) CMP process. The pad backer 100 includes a thin stainless steel plate 110, a polyurethane (PU) layer 120 and a pad backing ring 130, wherein the PU layer 120 is fixed onto the stainless steel plate 110 via a back adhesive 140 and rivets 150. The PU layer 120 carries a polishing pad 10 in a CMP process, and the pad backing ring 130 is for keeping the stainless steel plate 110 on the polishing stage. The PU layer 120 is smaller than the stainless steel plate 110, so that a gap 160 is formed between the PU layer 120 and the pad backing ring 130. During a CMP process, the stainless steel plate 110, the PU layer 120 and the polishing pad 10 together are slightly swollen upward by a gas blast from below, so that the substrate can well contact with the polishing pad.
As mentioned above, the polishing pad 10 and the underlying PU layer 120 are pressed by a substrate and rotated relative to the substrate in a CMP process. Therefore, a shear stress is generated between the PU layer 120 and the stainless steel plate 110. Meanwhile, the polishing slurry that usually contains corrosive components inevitably flows through the gap 160 and contacts with the back adhesive 140 between the PU layer 120 and the stainless steel plate 110 to degrade it. Therefore, the PU layer 120 will be delaminated from the stainless steel plate 110 usually after the pad backer 100 is used for polishing 1500 pieces of wafers. Once the delamination occurs in a CMP process, the rivets 150 are pulled away because of the shear stress caused by the polishing operation, and the wafer being polished will be damaged severely by the rivets 150.